The new Kindle Oasis is the best e-reader you can buy (AMZN)

Amazon Kindle Oasis

Using the new Kindle Oasis feels a little bit like stepping back in time. That might sound like a bad thing, but it's actually the opposite. The Oasis is a stylish, premium device that takes you back to simpler times, before apps and blue light kept us perpetually distracted and awake too late.

The device costs $280 and is available to buy now on Amazon.

I've been using the Oasis for a few weeks and comparing it to my other experiences using the Kindle app for iPhone and my practically ancient Kindle Fire from 2012. All of these options have their own strengths and weaknesses, but I wound up being pleasantly surprised by the Oasis.

Here's what it's like:

What most surprised me about the Oasis was its shape and size.

The Oasis has an aluminum body, which somehow manages two seemingly opposite feats: It makes the device feel high-end and expensive, but it also ensures that the Oasis is shockingly lightweight.

At 6.8 ounces, it's only slightly heavier than an iPhone X, which weighs 6.14 ounces.

The Oasis also has a funny little hump on its back just like the first generation device, which is likely intended to make it easier to grip one-handed. This is a nice feature — and one that's pretty unique to the Oasis — but is rendered useless if you put a case on it. The case snaps on magnetically to the back of the device, sitting flush next to the hump and creating an even back. The hump is nifty, but if you like having a case on your electronics like I do, you'll probably forget it's there altogether.

Besides the hump, the Oasis is super, super thin at 3.4 millimeters.

It has a big, beautiful screen too.

The new Oasis gained an extra inch on its display, making it the largest Kindle display on the market at seven inches.

Amazon says you'll be able to read 30% more before turning the page, but it doesn't really matter the exact amount. What really matters is the fact that the screen size straddles the line of being small enough to hold one-handed, but large enough that you don't feel like you're constantly turning the page.

This is where testing the Oasis side by side with the iPhone app made the difference really clear. When reading on my iPhone, I feel like I'm swiping to the next page every few seconds, and it makes reading while I eat or drink a coffee nearly impossible. The Kindle's larger screen size was perfect for me, and was my favorite feature of the device.

I'd choose reading on the Oasis over a digital display any time.

The screen also comes in handy at the end of a long day at work. Staring at a computer screen for hours on end means I don't want to look at another screen when I get home at night. Having the Kindle's E-Ink display meant my eyes — and brain — got a break. My Kindle Fire also has a digital display, so using the Oasis was a wonderful and much-needed change of pace.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider